Stinging bees "settle" to produce good quality honey

Bees in the natural environment fly freely to find flowers to collect nectar. With farmed bees, farm owners often "lure" them with flowers near the farming area or bring beekeeping boxes to gardens or forests with suitable flowers and nutritious nectar for the bees to make honey.

However, many beekeepers in Cat Tien and Cat Tien 2 communes, Lam Dong province, have made their bee colonies "settle down" and produce honey right in their home gardens.

More than 10 years ago, Mr. Do Van Nghia, a resident of Cat Tien commune, accidentally saw people catching a stingless bee nest in an abandoned house. “At that time, no one here knew about this species of bee, so I was very curious to see. The honey of this species of bee is very fragrant and abundant, so I “pulled” the bees home to try raising them, and then became involved in the stingless bee raising profession,” Mr. Nghia said.

After "leading" the bee colony home to raise, Mr. Nghia often goes online to learn about the characteristics of stingless bees and the techniques, processes of raising them, how to collect honey properly, and how to preserve honey to ensure quality. "This species of bee is tiny, we often call it the gentle bee species because they do not bite anyone. When we know the characteristics of stingless bees, "settling" them in the home garden is not difficult and brings high economic efficiency," said Mr. Nghia. After "settling" the initial bee colony for about 2 years, the stingless bees have gotten used to the new environment, applying the methods he has learned, Mr. Nghia separates the initial bee colony into many raising areas. The stingless bee nests are made of small wooden boxes, divided into many compartments, one side is transparent plastic for easy observation. The beekeeping box is placed in an open space on iron shelves, about 1m above the ground.

Stinging bees prefer to develop in sunny and warm climates. They depend heavily on the available flower sources near their nests and tend to choose native flowers with nutritious and easily accessible nectar such as coffee flowers and many types of wild flowers, so Cat Tien land is very suitable for raising this species of bee. Mr. Nghia said: “Stinging bees are often suitable for separating colonies and breeding in the spring. Raising this species of bee is a once-a-year honey harvest around the end of April. Each stinging bee nest can collect from 1 to 2.5 liters of honey per year; the selling price ranges from 1.5 to 2 million VND per liter. My family raises more than 3,000 boxes (nests), bringing in an income of more than 1 billion VND per year”.

Stinging nettle honey has a characteristic aroma, sweet taste and is said to have many health benefits due to its medicinal properties such as cooling, anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, improving the digestive tract, pain relief, disinfecting wounds; wax and stinging nettle honey have beautifying and skin-nourishing effects... Recognizing the value of stinging nettle honey early, many people have raised and developed local specialty products. The house of Ms. Doan Thi Yen's family, Cat Tien 2 commune, is a garden house, surrounded by 2 hectares of rambutan garden. Up to now, her family has raised 450 stinging nettle boxes. Ms. Yen shared: "Raising stinging nettle bees is quite easy, there is no need to take them out to "collect honey", I just need to make a small wooden box for the bees to "settle" to have honey, bringing in income. Stinging nettle bees are very gentle, do not sting people, and separating the swarm is also easy".

The stingless bee farming cooperative in Cat Tien currently has 9 members. Mr. Tran Van Thuc, the group leader, said that all members are successful and have high incomes from this beekeeping model. This species is easy to raise, produces quality honey, and is favored by the market; separating the colony to sell the breed also brings in a significant income. "To ensure the quality of stingless bee honey, members often "bring" the bees to live in the natural environment, far from agricultural production areas," Mr. Thuc informed. The locality recognized Cat Tien stingless bee honey as an OCOP product many years ago.

Compared to other honey bee species such as the fly bee, the hornet, etc., the stingless bee is smaller, gentle, does not sting, and is not dangerous to the beekeeper. According to preliminary statistics, currently in the communes of Cat Tien and Cat Tien 2, there are about 30 households raising stingless bees, bringing in good income.

BAO TU

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/ong-du-dinh-cu-cho-mat-chat-luong-tot-382696.html